Exploring the links between communication skills and social competence

This paper focuses on the development of communicative competence and its importance in facil-Hating the child’s social interaction and social acceptance. The relationship between social competence and communicative competence in normally developing children and in children with specific language impairment (SLI) is discussed and some results of a five-year longitudinal study of the social, educational and communicative development of eight children with SLI are reviewed. Significant variability between the children in this group in their levels of social competence appears to be related to their linguistic competence. However, social acceptance is also found to vary according to situation.